


Where Might You Be?

by shardaunei



Category: Actor RPF, Arashi (Band), Chinese Actor RPF, Japanese Actor RPF, Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band), NewS (Band)
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Gang Rape, Human Trafficking, Lost siblings, Multi, Romance, Triplets, Yakuza
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-01 04:20:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11478489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shardaunei/pseuds/shardaunei
Summary: Triplets were separated at birth, each growing up in different environments.Maki Horikita (23), the only one who knows that she has two sisters somewhere in this world, longs to find where they are. She enlisted the help from her neighbor, Shun Oguri (25), a Tokyo University law student.Makiko Watanabe (23), as far as she knows, the world revolves around her. As an only child in the most prominent, and feared, yakuza family, she is used to get what she wants. One day, her dad’s newly hired man, Tomohisa Yamashita (25), has caught her eye, but in spite of her not-so-subtle flirtation, he is not responding. Makiko loves a good challenge.Mackenzie Wentz (23) is attracting the music world’s attention. A prodigy in piano, violin, and voice. Mackenzie, a real music genius, refuse to practice as her mom wishes her to do, but rather just watch anime, read manga, and play with her computer-- an otaku at heart. She meets up a fellow otaku, Toma Ikuta (23), in the most unlikely places of all….her music conservatory school.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Repositing an older fic of mine I had written back in the days when Winglin existed- around 2008. Some things may sound old-school to you millennials out there, but I hope the story will still capture you. Think of it as historical fiction. Haha. 
> 
> This was also around the time when Oguri Shun pulled me in (Shun-baited, not Jun-baited from HYD) and HanaKimi was still on TV, and Yamaki was the IT couple in the fic world. And JE was a novel concept to me (like, I cringed at Arashi's concert costumes--which I hardly bat an eye now)
> 
> This is also at the time when I started to write fanfics, not fully an Arashian since I dabbled with 6-nin News and complete KAT-TUN.
> 
> Enjoy the time travel.

1985

“’Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry?’” Keijo Horikita sang happily along to his favorite song. He danced about his office; his back turned from the door, oblivious to his surrounding.

“Yes, I really want to hurt you, Yes, I really want to make you cry,” a voice sang with mocked lyrics behind him.

Startled, Keijo turned around and found Yousuke Watanabe and three of his trusted men standing at the doorway. Yousuke smiled evilly. He walked closer to Keijo, who naturally backed up, but was stopped by his luminous desk.

“W-w-what do you want, Yousuke?” Keijo demanded, trying to sound calm, but his stutter betrayed him.

Yousuke scoffed. “Is that how you address someone who you owe tremendously?” Yousuke asked. He stopped an inch in front of Keijo, still smiling, though it didn’t reach his eyes.

The three men behind Yousuke by this time had entered inside the office, locking the door. Two of them were now at each side of Keijo. Keijo looked around him, and swallowed.

“Sorry, Watanabe-san,” he said softly, bowing slightly.

“Much better,” Yousuke grunted. He sent a fist to Keijo’s face. Keijo landed on the plush carpet with a thud, his nose trickled with blood.

“Now where’s my money?” Yousuke demanded. He crouched down to face Keijo, pulling him by the collar. “Where’s my money?” He shouted.

“I-I don’t have it yet,” Keijo stammered. “P-please, give me some time. I’m in a tight budget. My wife is g-giving birth soon--”

“Enough excuses! I’ve been patient, but I don’t like liars. If you promised to pay in two weeks, I expected the payment in two weeks,” Yousuke punched Keijo again. “I want my money now.”

The phone rang suddenly. Yousuke gestured to one of his men to pick it up.

“Hello,” he answered roughly, and listened to the person on the opposite end. “Sorry, Horikita-san is busy at the moment. He would have to call you back.”

“Wait, wait! It’s an emergency!” the caller yelled out through the line. “His wife is giving birth now-“ his voice cut off as the man hangs up.

“Who was that?” Yousuke asked.

“Someone reporting to Horikita-san that his wife is in labor,” the man replied.

Yousuke turned to Keijo. “Well, congratulations, Daddy,” he said sarcastically. “It’s too bad you’re not gonna see her anytime soon—unless you hand me my $500,000 now.”

“Please! Please, you heard the caller, “Keijo begged. “My wife needs me there. I give you your money in two days. Just give me two more days.”

Yousuke paused to consider it. He shook his head.

“I have a better idea,” he smirked. “I’ll get your baby as part of your payment.”

Keijo’s expression quickly changed from frightened to anger.

“I’d rather die than having my child in your hands,” he spat.

Yousuke bared his teeth. He stood up slowly, looming over Keijo. “That can be arranged,” he said with finality in his voice.

He pointed to another man. “You know what to do,” he ordered. He gestured to the other two to follow him out.

A barely audible whir of the silencer was heard as Yousuke’s men closed the door behind them.

******************************************************

“One, two, three, smile,” a young CNA* took a picture of Sachiko Horikita and her three newborn girls.

Sachiko tried her hardest to smile happily, but a trace of worry was captured in her eyes. Her brother called Keijo about an hour ago, while the hospital staff rushed her into the delivery room. There was still no sign of her husband.

The door slid open, and Sachiko expected Keijo to come in. Her heart sank when it wasn’t her husband, but instead, one of Yousuke’s henchmen.

“Omedetto*, Horikita-san,” he greeted with a smirk.

“What are you doing here?” Sachiko asked quietly. The man walked over to her.

“Don’t come any closer!” Sachiko exclaimed, but the man didn’t listen. The CNA stepped between them, but the man merely pushed her aside. He stood in front of Sachiko and the sleeping babies. Sachiko quickly hovered over them, but kept her eyes on him, glaring.

“My husband will be here any minute, and you’ll be sorry,” she screamed. The man wrenched her away from the babies, now showing his intentions.

The CNA tried to fight him off, pulling him from behind. He turned around to hit her, sending her to the wall. The CNA hit her head and was knocked unconscious.

Sachiko screamed as loud as she could as she pushed him with all her might. The man slapped her hard, and she almost fell off the bed. He quickly grabbed two babies, and ran towards the door.

Sachiko quickly got off the bed and grabbed one baby from his grasp. He fought her off, and ran outside the door.

Moments later, a Code Pink* alert rang throughout the hospital. Security came over to Sachiko’s room, and found the CNA and Sachiko unconscious on the floor.

The two babies were wailing loudly, one on the bed and the other in Sachiko’s arms. The other nurses quickly came in to check for vital signs.

In spite of the hospital locked down, the man had gotten away with one of the Horikita babies.

Moments later, Sachiko came to and was shocked to find out one of her babies had been kidnapped, and her husband was killed. She cried in anguish over her loses; clutching the two babies her arms. The nurses could do nothing to ease her grief.

*********************************************

That night, Sachiko insisted to have her daughters’ bassinets in her room. She fought off the urge to go to sleep, trying to stay awake in case anything would happen to them.

The night LVN* came to check up on her.  
“How are we doing, Horikita-san?” she asked softly. Sachiko sighed, but didn’t reply. The LVN came to her bedside. “You should really rest and sleep. You’ve been through a lot today,” she said. Sachiko shook her head.

The LVN took a syringe and squirted some liquid into the IV* line.

“What are you doing?” Sachiko exclaimed. The LVN merely gave her a half smile.

“It’s just something to help you relax,” she said soothingly. She made her way to the bassinets. Sachiko’s eyes became heavy, and she tried to fight off the drowsiness.

She saw the LVN carried one of them and walked out. Sachiko tried to scream for help and to get up, but the medicine kicked in, making her drift off to dreamland.


	2. Chapter 1

Maki Horikita gasped, and sat up quickly. She was having nightmares again, the recurring one that involves her sisters. She glanced at the clock. 1:45 am.

Wide awake in the middle of the night, she turned on the lamp beside her. She opened the drawer of the bedside table, and took out her prized possession: an old tattered picture of her mom with her and her sisters on the day they were born. It the first and last time all four of them together.

Maki looked closely at her mom’s eyes. Sachiko’s blinding smile didn’t reach it, as if she sensed that everything would turn for the worse.

Maki closed her eyes, a tear ran down the side of her face. She remembered the day her mom related to her what had happened on that fateful day, and the following days.

~~~~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~~~~

Eight-year-old Maki was playing dress up with her friend, Mao Inoue and her cousin Hiro Mizushima. They were at Hiro’s house, in the attic.

They had recently discovered the wonderful, forgotten treasures that Hiro’s mom wasn’t willing to part just yet. The attic stored her old costumes from her theater days, which she retired from after Hiro was born. It also stored Maki and her mom’s few belongings.

Sachiko and Maki had moved in with Sachiko’s brother, Soshi, when Maki was three. Maki at that time didn’t understand why they had to move with Auntie Riiko and Uncle Soshi, but it suited her fine. Hiro was the best cousin ever, and she likes playing with him. Five years later, they were still living with them, because Sachiko was very sickly.

“Hiro-kun,” she said, putting a sunhat on his head. “Wear this.” She stood back with Mao, examining him.

“Kawaii!” they giggled. Eleven-year-old Hiro frowned, pulled the hat off, and threw it at them.

“Baka!” he exclaimed. “I’m not one of your Barbie dolls.” He stormed off out of the attic, but before he could get down, Mao and Maki each grabbed his arm, and pulled him up.

“We were just kidding,” Mao reassured him, still hanging onto his arm.

“Get off me,” Hiro said to her roughly. Mao glared at him.

“How rude!” she said, and haughtily walked back to the trunk of costumes. Maki was already there, digging through the clothes, and pulled out a Sherlock Holmes looking hat. She handed it to Hiro.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “You can wear this.” Hiro took the cap and put it on. Mao found a Victorian dress with matching hat and shoes, and put them on. Maki put on an Indian sari. Soon, they were into their mystery theater game.

After a while, they got bored with their game, and set to explore the boxes. Mao held up a small box decorated with decoupage magazine pictures.

“Check this out!” she held up for them to see. “I wonder whose this is.”

“That’s mom’s,” Maki said. Mao went over to her. She opened up the box. They sat around the box, and peered in. It was full of pictures. They looked through each one, commenting on what they see. A picture at the bottom caught Hiro’s attention. He took it out and gasped.

“Maki,” he said, pointing to the picture. “That’s your mom. Who are those babies?” He flipped at the back. “With Maki and Baby Girls 2 & 3, October 6, 1985.”

“EH?” Everyone yelped in surprise. Maki grabbed the photo from her cousin’s hands and stared closely at it. Her eyes were big in shock.

“I- I have sisters?” she asked softly. She got up and practically flew down the attic steps to find her mom. She went straight for their bedroom Riiko and Soshi provided for them.

“Mom,” Maki called as soon as she went in. Sachiko was taking a nap, but sat up when she heard Maki’s voice. Maki stood in front of her, and showed her a picture. “What’s this all about?” she asked.

Sachiko gasped and took the photo from Maki. “Where did you find this?” she asked, her voice mixed with anger, dread, and sadness.

Maki looked down at her feet. “In the attic, inside your pretty box,” she reported quietly. But then she looked at Sachiko straight in the eye. “Do I really have sisters?” she asked.

Sachiko sighed. She had been meaning to tell Maki about her sisters, but she couldn’t bring up the subject. Her excuses were that Maki was too young to understand, and didn’t want her to be hurt and afraid. She wanted to protect her from the truth.

In reality, she was the one afraid that telling the story of what they had been through would open up emotions she tried desperately not to feel. Now Maki had found out herself, and she had to be told.

Sachiko sat up, and pulled Maki closer. “OK,” she said. “I’ll tell you what happened. This is painful for me, but please bear with me.”

Maki didn’t say anything, but just nodded. Sachiko proceeded to tell the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END FLASHBACK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Startled, Maki opened her eyes. The room was filled with light. She glanced at the clock. 6:30 am. She had drifted off to sleep, thinking about her past. She quickly got up to take a shower.

After she got dressed for school, she peered in her refrigerator, and sighed. Inside was the last piece of bread, a rotten banana, and what seemed like a drop of juice left.

She really needed to do groceries, but the last of her money went to the rent and the utility bills. She grabbed all three: tossing the banana into the trash bin, stuffed the bread in her mouth, and chugged down the juice.

She drank two glasses of water to make her stomach seem fuller, then headed out the door with her things. As she stepped out, the door of the apartment next to her opened as well.

Maki loves this part of her morning. The tenant smiled at her in greeting.

“Ohayou, Maki-chan,” he said. Maki tried not to hyperventilate.

He had on a crisp business jacket over a white t-shirt that accentuate his muscles. He paired this with dark washed jeans that graced his long legs.

His black hair was up to his ears, with bangs framing his face perfectly. Maki forgot about hunger and concentrated on Shun Oguri’s face.

“Ohayou, Shun-kun,” she greeted with a shy smile. They both went down the stairs to the first floor.

“Do you need a ride to school?” Shun asked. Maki wanted to say yes, but she shook her head instead.

“I’ll just take the train,” she said. Shun grabbed her wrist.

“It’s a long way to your school, right?” he asked. “Really, it’s no trouble at all.” He flashed a smile at her.

Maki nodded OK, and followed Shun to his motorcycle. Maki sighed with relief that she chose to wear pants that day. Soon, they were zipping through morning Tokyo traffic.

When they arrived at Maki’s school, she handed back the helmet Shun had asked her to wear before leaving the apartment.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said. She fixed her hair a bit. Shun reached out and tucked a strand behind her ear. Maki stared at him wide-eyed. He sheepishly smiled, realizing what he had done.

“Ja ne,” Shun said, then revving up the bike. Before Maki could say anything, he rode off out of sight.

Maki checked her watch. She gasped as she realized she’s going to be late for her Education class. The professor, Dr. England is a stickler for punctuality. She dashed through the crowds, hoping that she’ll make it on time.

Someone suddenly came out of nowhere, and Maki collided with him. They both fell to the ground hard.

“Ow,” they groaned, trying to get up.

“I’m sorry,” Maki said. “Are you okay?” She checked the guy she had knocked down. He seemed to be fine. “I’m really sorry, but I’m in a hurry. Are you sure you’re okay?”

The guy nodded. “I’m okay. I’m built for strength.” He smiled, helping Maki get up.

“OK, I’ll see you around.” With that, Maki took off running again.

The guy dusted himself off. His friend came running to him.

“Dude, Sho, I totally saw the whole thing. You OK?” he asked.

“Yeah, Pi, I’m okay,” Sho Sakurai told his friend. They continued walking to their building.

A few feet away, a black car with dark tinted windows was parked. The driver and his front passenger were staring at Sho and his friend who were totally oblivious they were being watched.

“Is that him?” the driver asked, looking at the picture their boss provided for them for reference.

“Yeah, that’s him, alright,” the passenger said.  
“Yamashita Tomohisa,” the driver grunted. “Twenty-three. Huh! Is the boss expecting us to babysit or something? He’s just a kid. Too young for this kind of work.”

“There’s no age limit for this line of work, baka! If you’re determined to be one, then you’ll be one. Providing you pass the test, of course.” He let out a mirthless laugh. The driver laughed along with him.

“Hey!” a voice yelled outside the window, startling both of them. The passenger rolled down the window.

“Ohayou, Makiko-san,” they both greeted.

Makiko Watanabe glared at them. She crossed her arms.

“Are you two spying on me?” she demanded.

“No, ma’am. We were checking out a lead of some sort.”

“Fine, “Makiko said. She looked around the crowded campus.

“You better get outta here before someone gets suspicious.”  
They nodded goodbye, then sped off. Makiko walked off to her class. She was really late, but she didn’t care.

She would just sleep with the TA who was in charge of taking attendance. It’s not the first time.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you remember Yahoo!Messenger? haha.

NYC, NY USA

BLOP

The familiar Yahoo! Messenger sound alerted Mackenzie Wentz that her online friend replied to her. Switching over from the CSS code she’d been working on to the message box, she read the reply. She laughed at the message, typed her reply, and then pressed SEND.

KNOCK KNOCK

Mackenzie switched to her friends list to see who had just logged on. There were no new logins. The knock came again. It was actually someone outside her room.

Mackenzie quickly shut her MacBook closed. She ran from her desk and plopped onto the bed, and opened a music score notebook. All in 10 seconds.

“Come in, “ she called, knowing exactly who it was.

“Mackie, did you practice for your voice recital?” her mother, Risa Wentz asked. She came into the room, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Mackenzie faced the wall so that her mom wouldn’t see her rolling her eyes.

“Yes, Mom,” she said. She turned to face her and gave her the sweetest smile.

“BS,” Risa said, crossing her arms. “I know for a fact that you haven’t. Young lady, this recital is extremely important. Your father and Eiji are coming over from Japan just to see you perform. Now I want you to go to the family room and practice right now.”

Mackenzie sighed aloud. Her mom was getting annoying.

“Mom, I did practice,” Mackenzie said, exasperatedly. “You were at the Women’s Guild.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Why can’t you trust me?”

“Because Cathy McAllister’s daughter called me that you left the apartment.”

“Why would Liz call you?”

“I ask her to, in case you leave the apartment.”

“Oh my god, I don’t believe this!” Mackenzie exclaimed, getting up from her bed, and glared at her mother. “I went to the school to practice there!” She murmured something explicit under her breath.

“Young lady, I do not allow inappropriate language in this household,” Risa warned.

”Please stop calling me ‘young lady’,” Mackenzie’s voice raised higher. “I’m an adult. Stop treating me as if I’m a child.”

“Stop acting like one,” Risa retorted.” If you’d just be responsible enough to practice on your own without me having to remind you ever so often, I wouldn’t be ‘on your case,’ as you put it.”

“Ahh!” Mackenzie shouted. “There’s no point in telling you my side of the story. You always assume the worst in me.”

Mackenzie quickly packed up her computer into her messenger bag. She grabbed her SideKick phone and iPod, and stormed out of her room.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Risa exclaimed.

“Out!” With that, Mackenzie slammed the apartment door, heading straight for the bus stop.

When she got on the bus to school, she let out a sigh. Every time it was like this when recitals come. Risa was adamant for practice time for her. She demanded perfection from Mackenzie when it comes to performances.

The thing she didn’t understand was that Mackenzie does practice, but she learns the piece right away, and gets it right after a couple of practices. Mackenzie also practices more at her school, The Juilliard School.

She took out her phone and connected herself to YM. She was relieved that Atom was online.

zie_gurl: HEY  
atom: SUP?  
zie_gurl: HAD A FIGHT WITH HER AGAIN  
atom: SORRY. SHE REALLY WANTS U TO BE PERFECT IN PIANO, HUH?  
zie_gurl: ALL THE FREAKIN’ TIME! *sigh* BTW, IT’S ABOUT VOICE NOW.  
atom: OIC. LEMME GUESS…. U’R ON THE BUS HEADING TO YOUR SCHOOL JUST TO GET AWAY FROM HER  
zie_gurl: LOL. MAYBE I SHOULDN’T TELL U ABOUT MY LIFE ANYMORE. I’M TOO PREDICTABLE.  
atom: NAH. IT’S JUST ROUTINE.

Mackenzie read the last line. So true. She already knew what’s going to happen when she comes home.

zie_gurl: HEY, I GOTTA GO. TTYL  
atom: K. BYE

Mackenzie put her phone away, and put on the ear buds of her iPod. She leaned against the window, staring out to the passing people in the sidewalk.

She thought how lately she and her mom had been constantly fighting about practices. Thinking back about the fight earlier, she knew she’s partly at fault, too.

Why were her mom’s reminders bugging her lately? Mackenzie asked herself that too often. Deep in her heart she knew, but forced herself to deny it.

She mentally shook herself to stop thinking about it anymore, and concentrated on the song playing on the iPod she needed to sing at the recital.

Juilliard is one of the country’s hardest schools to get into. Instead of writing an essay on why one chooses to be in the school, he or she must audition to be in it.

Mackenzie had to go through that audition. Ever since she was nine, she wanted to come to the States to study in one of the top conservatories in the world. So, when she was eighteen, she applied, and was asked to audition.

Mackenzie and Risa came to New York City. Her husband, Peter, and Eiji, stayed in Japan for the time being, since Eiji was still in high school then.

The audition judges easily accepted Mackenzie, and she and Risa had lived in an apartment in the middle of Manhattan since. Mackenzie love being in New York, but at the same time, wished that she was still in Japan.

She missed her dad and Eiji, who was very close to her. When Eiji graduated from high school, he wanted to go to a conservatory, too, but chose Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Wentz family hardly sees each other lately, and Mackenzie was starting to feel the loneliness. She immersed herself into the music, though, and soon had made many good friends who share the love of performing.

One of them came up to her out of nowhere; bringing Mackenzie’s thoughts back to the present.

“Hey, Mack, you okay?” Ariel Lin asked, eyeing her sideways.

“Yeah,” Mackenzie nodded. “Just a lot in my mind. I have a voice recital coming up in one week.”

“Ooh, good luck on that. Listen, I wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

“Can you help my group out? See, our acting teacher assigned our class in groups, and we have to come up with a musical play. I thought maybe you can help us out with the accompaniment?” Ariel smiled at her hopefully. Mackenzie paused to think about it.

“Maybe after my recital,” she finally said. Ariel squealed happily and gave her a hug.

“Yes. No problem. My group is still working on a script, anyway. We’ll just draft some lyrical prose that may be set to music.” Ariel hugged her again. “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome. Hey, I gotta go and practice this song. I expect you to be at my recital, okay?”

Ariel nodded her head. They said their goodbyes, and went their separate ways.

**************************

The bell above the door dinged when Ariel came inside the Internet café at Little Tokyo. She scanned the drooping backs and heads around and found one familiar form.

She waved at the manager by the cash register, then went over to her friend.

“Thought I might find you here,” she said behind her friend, meaning to startle him. Her friend jumped at her voice, whipping around to find Ariel grinning mischievously at him.

“Geez, Ariel. You certainly know how to give people heart attacks,” he said. He went back to the computer screen.

“Toma, aren’t we being over dramatic?” she teased, pulling up a chair to sit beside him. Ariel peered at the computer screen.

“’Atom’?” she asked, eyebrows raised. “My, aren’t we creative with our handle?”

“Shut up. Why the hell are you here, anyway?” Toma Ikuta said, a trace of annoyance in his tone.

Ariel smiled at how she had clearly annoyed this otaku.

“Sheesh. I’m just here to let you know that I found us a pianist for our project.”

“Cool.” Toma still facing the computer.

“Are you chatting in the forum again?”

“No.”

“Is that girl online?” Ariel smirked.

Toma didn’t answer. Ariel looked around, and saw someone walked by outside the café.

“I gotta go,” she said suddenly. She got up. Toma eyed her suspiciously.

“Why?” he asked.

“I just saw my cutie crush, and I shall do some stalking now. Bye.” Ariel sprinted out the door, the bell dinged on her way out.

“Girls,” Toma sighed, shaking his head, looking back to the computer again.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

1985

A man wearing dark sunglasses shifted the backpack he was carrying. He walked nonchalantly towards a parked luxury car with black tinted windows. Taking off the backpack, he opened the back passenger door, and slid inside. A cigarette smoke blew into his face, and the man tried not to wave his hand to clear the air.

“Mission accomplished, boss,” he said, handing the backpack to his boss.

Yousuke Watanabe motioned with his head to the other man beside him to take the bag. His second in command opened it and took out the sleeping baby. She was sucking on the pacifier with no care in the world.

“So, she had a girl, huh?” Yousuke smirked, blowing out another puff of smoke.

“Actually, boss, there were three of them.”

“Well, where the hell are the other two?”

“Couldn’t carry them all. Sachiko was feisty. Nearly took out my arm while she wrestled the other baby from me.”

“Are you trying to tell me that that bitch was stronger than you?” Yousuke grunted, waving angrily the hand that was holding onto a cigarette butt. The man hung his head down, taking in the reproached.

Just then, a squad car with blaring siren zoomed past them heading to the hospital. Yousuke motioned to the driver to drive. The car sped off, and it was too late for the police to find the baby now.

That night, he presented the baby girl to his wife, Naomi. She looked at the baby, then at her husband.

“What the hell is that?” she asked.

“What does it look like?” Yousuke retorted.

“Well, where did you get that?”

Yousuke sat down next to her; he was still carrying the baby.

“Why did you get a baby girl?” Naomi asked.

“Thought you said you wanted a girl.”

“But I thought you wanted a boy to succeed you.”

“Do you want it or not?”

Naomi took the baby in her arms. She looked at the face, and her heart melted. The baby cooed, and squirmed a bit, but settled down in her sleep.

“What’s her name?” Naomi whispered. Yousuke shrugged.

“Up to you,” he said. He lighted a cigar.

“Hey, put it out, or go outside,” Naomi nagged. “There will be no smoking around Makiko.”

Yousuke grunted, but complied. He stabbed the tip onto the ashtray. He leaned back and took a sip of his scotch.

Watching Naomi got up to rock to baby, Yousuke smiled, pleased with himself. He always gets what he wants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END FLASHBACK ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yousuke realized that he was reminiscing about Naomi and Makiko as he stared at a picture of them together. He was leaning on the plush leather swivel chair behind his desk. He shook his head as if to clear it with memories, then went back to the papers he was dealing with. Someone knocked at the door. Yousuke called for whomever to come in. One of his henchmen, Don Lucado, stuck his head in.

“Sumimasen, boss,” he said. “The rookie is here.”

Yousuke nodded. “Let him in.”  
The door opened wider, and in comes the guy about Makiko’s age. Yousuke stared at him, sizing him up.

“Yoroshiko onegaishimasu,” the rookie bowed.

“What’s your name again, boy?” Yousuke asked.

“Tomohisa Yamashita,” he said. “And, I’m not a boy. I’m twenty-five years old.”

Yousuke narrowed his eyes at Tomohisa. “I can call you ‘Boy’ whenever I want to,” he warned. “You are not in your place to question me.”

Tomohisa swallowed hard, then bowed low quickly.

“Sumimasen,” he nearly exclaimed.

“Don, show this boy around while I think of his first assignment,” Yousuke ordered. Don quickly ushered Tomohisa out the office.

Yousuke smiled to himself. Tomohisa seemed interesting. This assignment would definitely test to see if he was sincere and not some damn undercover cop.

Outside the hall, Don smacked Tomohisa up side the head.

“Ow,” Tomohisa cried, rubbing on the sore spot. “What was that for?”

“You suicidal or something?” Don said through gritted teeth. “You do not talk back to Watanabe, ever!”

“Gomenasai.”

“Geez, why do I have a nephew who wants to be a yakuza,” Don muttered. He shook his head.

“Gomen, Uncle Don,” Tomohisa apologized for the third time in the last few minutes.

“Shh! Don’t call me ‘Uncle’ when we’re in the Watanabe estate, you hear?” Don warned, pointing a finger at his nephew.

“Sorry, Unc—“ Tomohisa started, but Don shoved his pointer finger at his face.

“What did I just say?” Don hissed. He sighed, and motioned for him to follow. For the next few minutes, Don guided Tomohisa around the Watanabe estate, pointing stuff here and there. They finally come to a room where most of the members hang out to wait for Yousuke’s orders.

“Okay, kid, you’re on your own once we go inside,” Don said just before he slid open the door to get in. “If you say something stupid to get killed, it’s your fault.”

“Eh?” Tomohisa exclaimed, and Don stepped in the room, pulling him in.

The men who were loud and boisterous suddenly stopped at what they were doing and stared at the fresh meat.

“Who the hell are you?” a man with a goatee asked gruffly. He sat at a table where two others sat with him, playing some card game.

“Uh, Watanabe just hired him,” Don explained without going into details. He went and sat down with a group playing Mah-Jong, leaving Tomohisa standing for all to see.

“Uh, Yamashita Tomohisa desu, yoroshiko onegaishimasu,” Tomohisa bowed low.

The men suddenly busted out laughing.

“ ‘Yoroshiko onegaishimasu,’” a man with a square jaw and greasy hair mimicked in a high singsong voice.

“So damn polite,” a baby-faced man that hardly look as a tough guy, interjected.

Don remained quiet, looking at his nephew. Tomohisa looked as if he was about to pee in his pants. Don shook his head, still trying to understand why he wanted to join in the first place.

“’Yamashita Tomohisa’. Damn that’s a long ass name,” someone complained. “You got a nickname, kid?”

“My friends call me Yamapi.”

The men stopped what they were doing again, staring at him, then burst out in louder laughter.

“’Yama-PI?” Square-Jaw-Greasy-Hair said, emphasizing the last syllable. That got more laughter.

“Haha, yeah,” Tomohisa laughed sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He was used to it by now.

“Well, then, Yama-PI,” that same guy said, trying to stop laughing. “Welcome.”

Suddenly the door slid open, and a 6-feet tall, gruff looking man came in. Everybody quieted and went back to business, but their eyes shifted to Yamapi and the man’s direction. The man who just came in walked over to Yamapi.

“You Tomohisa?” he asked with authority, staring down at him. Yamapi blinked, nodding.

“You mean, ‘Yama-PI’?” Squared-Jaw-Greasy-Hair wisecracked.

Some laughed weakly, but the rest didn’t dare. The tall man ignored them.

“Yousuke told me to tell you your first assignment,” he said. “You are to be Makiko’s bodyguard.”

Everybody gasped, mouth gaping wide open. They stared at him with pity. Someone hummed the death march song quietly.

Yamapi looked around in horror. He had a bad feeling about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NYC, NY USA

Mackenzie stopped just outside the door of their apartment. She breathed in deeply, pulling her courage together before she unlocked the door to get inside. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the fury Risa would unleash.

Nothing.

Mackenzie opened her eyes, wondering what’s taking her mother long to yell at her. She found the living room empty. Risa didn’t wait for her as she normally would when Mackenzie storms out in the middle of their fight.

“Mom?” Mackenzie called out quietly. She walked to the kitchen. It was empty. She turned around and almost ran into Eiji, her 21-year-old brother.

“AHH!” Mackenzie yelped, her hand over her chest. Eiji grinned in satisfaction at how he successfully startled her.

“Hiya, sis,” he said.

“Oh, my god, Eiji!” Mackenzie wrapped him in a big hug. “I thought you wouldn’t get here until next week.”

“Dad decided he couldn’t wait to see you and Mom, so we flew a week early,” Eiji explained.

He went over to the couch and plopped on it. He opened a bag of Doritos chips he had been holding, and munched noisily. Mackenzie walked over and sat next to him.

“So, only Dad’s the one that misses us?” she probed, looking at him suspiciously. Eiji stopped to think for a moment.

“Yeah,” he said finally, nodding his head. “Ow!” He rubbed on his arm where Mackenzie just gave him a punch. “OK, OK. I miss you, too.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in school, though?”

“Nah. I quit and moved back to Japan.”

“Huh?” Mackenzie looked at him in shocked. “Does Mom know?”

“Yeah,” Eiji simply said.

“And she’s OK with it?” Mackenzie asked, feeling a bit slighted how her mom was more understanding when it comes to Eiji than her.

“Sort of. Dad talked about it with her. He explained that I’m still doing music, though.”

“What do you mean?” Mackenzie asked.

“I’m gonna sign with a record company in Japan as part of a pop duo,” Eiji smiled happily of his news. Mackenzie smiled and gave him a hug.

“That’s great. Omedetto.”

“Doumo.”

“What’s the name of your duo?” Mackenzie asked, taking a bite of one of those triangular chips.

“WaT,” Eiji answered, stuffing a handful of orangey triangles into his mouth.

“What’s the name of your duo?”

“WaT!”

“What’s. The. Name. Of. Your. Duo?” Mackenzie asked again, emphasizing each word.

“Sheesh. You deaf? I said the name already.”

“What?”

“Exactly.”

“Oi, forget it!” Mackenzie hurled a chip at him.

The front door opened, and their parents came in. Mackenzie greeted her dad with a hug, but Risa ignored her and went to the master’s bedroom. Mackenzie felt hurt and guilty. She hated when her mom gives her silent treatments, and she would rather get yelled at.

“Just let her cool off, baby girl,” Peter Wentz assured her. Mackenzie nodded slowly.

To ease the awkwardness, Eiji suddenly piped up that he wants to go out and eat at Little Tokyo. Peter declined, but allowed the sibling to go out by themselves.

They drove their dad’s Mercedes Benz to Little Tokyo; the two siblings played “catch-up” with their lives. It had been a long time since they’ve seen or talk to each other. Mackenzie stared at her brother as Eiji related some story. Her lips formed a small smile. Eiji noticed it and looked strangely at her.

“What?” he asked. Mackenzie grabbed his cheek, pinching it.

“You are so grown up,” she cooed like an old auntie who they haven’t seen for years.

“Stop, Mackie,” he demanded, swatting her hand off. “You’re embarrassing me. By the way, what was the fight between you and Mom about?”

“Oh look, a restaurant. Let go there,” Mackenzie exclaimed, avoiding the subject. She skillfully parked the car and zipped out the door, with Eiji tailing behind her.

“I take it you don’t wanna talk about it?” Eiji asked when he finally caught up with her. Mackenzie simply shook her head. He shrugged.

The Japanese restaurant they saw happened to serve their favorite food. Once they sat down at a booth, they checked out the menu.

“Konnichiwa,” a voice said above they heads. “Would you like something to drink?”

Mackenzie looked up at the waiter with fiery red, spiky hair. He had a lopsided smile that could be mistaken as a smirk. She smiled back at him.

“Just water, please,” she said shyly. Eiji didn’t say anything, but continued checking out the menu. Mackenzie kicked him under the table.

“Ow!” he yelped. “Uh, Coke.”

The waiter stifled a laughed. He nodded and told them he’d be back with the drinks and to take up their orders. He did so two minutes later. He jotted down their orders, and left to take it back to the kitchen. After six minutes, he came back with their order.

“This isn’t what ordered,” Eiji said rudely. Mackenzie stared at him.

“Um, you ordered house special 9,” the waiter confirmed. Eiji shook his head adamantly.

“Nope. I ordered house special 6 with a side of edamame,” he said.

“Fine,” the waiter said with gritted teeth. “I’ll be right back with the correct order.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Mackenzie hissed at Eiji as soon as the waiter left. He nonchalantly shrugged.

The waiter came back with the order and nearly slammed it onto the table in front of Eiji.

“What the hell is that?” Eiji asked, his voice rose a bit.

“The house special you ordered with the side of edamame,” the waiter said, losing patience.

“That can’t be it?” Eiji huffed. “Are you trying to jip me?”

“Eiji!” Mackenzie hissed. By this time, everybody was looking at their direction.

“Why the hell would I do that?” the waiter’s voice strained. “God, is it ‘asshole day’ today?” he muttered in Japanese.

“I wanna see your manager,” Eiji yelled in Japanese, shot up from his seat.

The waiter looked at him in shock. Apparently he didn’t think that Eiji could understand what he said, judging by Eiji’s Caucasian look. The waiter’s expression quickly turned to anger.

“Fine!” he spat out.

“Is there a problem here?” an old man appeared suddenly.

“Yeah,” Eiji said angrily. He stared at the waiter. “This baka over here kept messing up my orders, and insulted me!”

“He started it! I got the orders right the first time!”

“Hey! What happened to great customer services?” Eiji yelled.

“What happened to common courtesy?” the waiter retorted.

“Yameru!” the old man exclaimed. He took a deep breath, and turned to Eiji.

“My apologies, sir,” he said. “If you please sit, we will get your order correct, on the house.” He gestured for him to sit.

Mackenzie stood up angrily. “That won’t be necessary,” she said as calmly as she could muster. She took out her wallet, and placed a couple of $5 bills on the table.

“Sumimasen,” she bowed deeply, and grabbed her brother out of the restaurant. She took the car key from him and drove out of the village.

The waiter angrily left the restaurant just in time to see them drove off. He shook his head at the unbelievable scene the spoiled rich brat created. Damn it! He’s been fired from another job again. He went across the street to the Internet café he frequents. Guess he needed to go log on to Craigslist to look for another job again.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember: this was around the time HanaKimi was still fresh from fansubs (Mega Upload was still alive-RIP MU).

Chapter 4

NYC, NY USA

Mackenzie was fuming as she zipped through New York City traffic. She pushed her glasses up, then quickly gripped the wheel with both hands. She pushed her glasses up again. Eiji knew this was a sign that she’s pissed off.

“What’s wrong?” he asked as if nothing had happened ten minutes ago.

“’What’s wrong’?” Mackenzie snapped. She started smacking Eiji with her right hand, while controlling the wheel with her left. “What the hell do you mean ‘what’s wrong’?”

Eiji held his arms to block her attack.

“OK, OK, sorry,” he said, still blocking her smacks. “He laughed at me.”

“That’s because you’re a baka!” she exclaimed. “You didn’t have to be so damn mean. You got him fired, you jerk! That was SOOOO EMBARRASSING!!!” She suddenly stepped on the brake, sending Eiji forward hard.

“Son of a ---“

“We should turn around and apologize to him. No, correction,“ she turned and pointed an accusing finger at him. “YOU should apologize to him.”

“WHAT? WHY?” Eiji whined. “Who cares about that jerk?”

“Did you learn bad manners while in London or something?” Mackenzie asked. “Or you had lost it at the JFK airport coming back here?”

“Hey, lady, get a move on!” the driver behind them yelled and honked his horn. Other drivers had honked their horns at them, too.

Mackenzie stuck her head out the window and yelled, “I’M GOING!” She came back inside, and stepped on the gas, making Eiji snapped back hard against the seat. Mackenzie made a U-turn, and Eiji quickly realized what she was trying to do.

“Ahhh, no Nee-chan!” he pleaded. “Please, let’s not go back!”

“It’s the right thing to do,” she simply said and ignored Eiji’s pleadings from then on until they arrived at the restaurant. She got out, and waited for him on the sidewalk to get out also. When he didn’t budge from the passenger seat, she opened the door, and pulled him out by the ear.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Eiji cried until Mackenzie let go when he stood in front of the manager.

“Ah, you came back for your food?” he asked, a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

“I, uh, I need to-“ Eiji turned to look at Mackenzie, who gave him a look to continue or there will be hell to pay. Eiji dejectedly turned back to the manager. “I need to, uh, speak to that, um, that waiter I yelled at earlier.”

The old man shrugged. “Sorry, but he left just after I fired him, which was after you two left.”

“Actually, I’m really sorry about what happened earlier,” Eiji said. “Can you hire him back? It wasn’t his fault. I kinda started it.”

The old man shook his head. “No, I cannot allow that. He should’ve kept his cool, but he didn’t. If it wasn’t you, it would’ve been someone else.”

“Oh,” Eiji looked down. “Do you know where I can find him?”

The old man shook his head again. Eiji and Mackenzie excused themselves, and headed home again.  
*  
*  
That night, Mackenzie logged on to YM to see if Atom is online. He wasn’t, so instead, she checked his blog. He didn’t write much like he usually does. Instead, he just blogged:  
*  
*  
“I got fired again today. This time, it wasn’t my fault. Damn it! I’m gonna have to look for another job again tomorrow. I’m still pissed off. Later days.”  
*  
*  
Mackenzie sighed. Atom didn’t have a good day, either. They should start a club, Mackenzie had bitterly thought as she turned off the lights to go to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_“PEACH!! hikkuri kaeru ai no maaku  
itten de fuantei da kara sugu itten suru dakedo kaeshite miseru yo  
PEACH!! hikkuri kaeru ai no maaku  
nanbai mo no pawaa ga hitsuyou ganbatte miseru yo ai shichau kara”_

Shun opened one eye and groaned. It was morning already. He reached for his phone and shut off the alarm. He slowly made his way to the shower and got ready for school.

A few minutes later, he checked his watch, and smiled. He listened for a sound next door, and Maki coming out. Shun nonchalantly opened his door to leave as well.

“Ohayou, Maki-chan,” he greeted, smiling. Maki as always seemed to be out of sorts before replying. They walked down the steps to the parking lot.

“Do you want a ride to school?” Shun asked, holding out his hand. Maki seemed to hesitate, and looked down. That’s when Shun looked at what she was worried about. She was wearing a skirt.  
Shun nodded and gave her a smile.

“Daijoubou,” he said and took her hand.

“But I’m wearing a skirt,” Maki reasoned, and letting him lead her to his bike.

“Here,” Shun patted the space in front of him, and handed her a helmet. “You can ride sideways, and since you’re sitting in front of me, you won’t fall off.”

Maki nodded, and sat sideways. Shun put the helmet on for her.

“Ikou,” he said, then revved up the bike.

On the way to Maki’s school, Shun kept stealing glances at her, and his heart beat faster every time. He scolded himself to keep his eyes on the road, and didn’t see Maki looking at him, a happy smile on her face.

They finally reached her college, and Shun felt disappointed. He won’t be able to see her again until tomorrow morning.

Maki handed him the helmet back. “Thank you, “ she said.

“Ja mata ashita,” Shun smiled, ready to leave, when Maki placed her hand on his.

“Chotto matte,” she said.

“Nani?”

“Um, you always drop me off and you’re so kind to me, “Maki said shyly. “I wanna treat you somewhere to thank you.”

Shun gave a small laugh. “Maki-chan, you don’t have to,” he said.

“No, really. Please?” Maki pleaded. “Are you busy for lunch later?”

Shun shook his head, and they agreed to meet at a café at noon. He waved goodbye and sped his way to Tokyo University.  
*  
*  
Shun arrived at Café Marquis around noon and saw that Maki was already there waiting for him. She was reading a book and didn’t see him until he sat on the chair in front of her. She gasped.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,“ Shun said. Maki just shook her head, blushing. A waiter came and took their order.

“So, do you still go to school or are you working now?” Maki asked, taking a sip of her caramel macchiato.

“I’m still in school,” Shun replied, and leaned forward on the table. “I go to Tokyo University.”

Maki almost spit out her coffee. “Todai?” she exclaimed.

Shun chuckled. “Hai,” he said.

“What are you taking?”

“This is my last year as a law student.”

“Law!”

“Hai.”

“You must be smart, huh? Going to Todai and all.”

Shun just shrugged. “I just work as hard as anybody, I guess.”

Maki just nodded. Their food had arrived, and for a few moments, they ate in silence.

“How about you?” Shun asked between bites. “What are you taking?”

“Elementary Education,” Maki replied, swallowing. “This is my second to the last year in school. I had to take a few classes cuz I have to work.”

“Can’t your mom or dad help you?”

Maki paused. She chewed her food slowly, debating if she should tell him.

“Um,” she started. “My day died when I was a baby, and my mom died when I was twelve.” She bit her lower lip.

Shun stopped and looked at her sympathetically. He reached over and took her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories,” he said softly. Maki shook her head.

“No, it’s okay. I’m fine. It just hard to talk about it sometimes.” She gave Shun a reassuring smile.  
*  
*  
Shun offered to drop her off at her school. Maki shook her head declining the offer.

“I’m going to work, actually,” she said. “I work in the afternoons. It’s just a couple of blocks from here.”

“Are you sure?’

“Yeah, daijoubou,” she said, and without thinking, she gave him a hug. “Thanks for having lunch with me.” She broke away from him, and walked to her work.

Shun was mildly stunned at what had just happened, but he broke into a smile. He went back to his school feeling on cloud nine.  
*  
*  
“Shun!” a voice called across the parking lot at Todai as soon as he’d arrived. He saw his classmate, Ohno Satoshi running his way.

“What’s up?” he greeted Satoshi.

“Professor Iwase had posted up the list of interns who will be working for him,” Satoshi informed him. They hurried to their department building and scanned the bulletin boards for the list.

“Here it is!” Shun exclaimed. He and Satoshi started reading down the line. They both shouted at the same time.

“I got in!”

“Me too!”

They ran to Professor Iwase’s office to report themselves. There, they found four more people being assigned as interns, too.

“Minna-san, konnichiwa,” Professor Iwase greeted moments when Shun and Satoshi arrived. “Looks like everyone is here. Does everyone know each other?” They looked around and nodded. “Good, then you guys saved me the trouble,” Professor Iwase grinned. Everyone relaxed a little. They got a briefing on how they were going to be doing during their time as interns.

“I have a case I’m starting on,” Professor Iwase explained.

“And I want you to help me research for my statement. I need you to research on the case, background information on who are involve, witnesses, etcetera, etcetera. Understand?”

“Hai,” everyone nodded their heads.

“Good. Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll meet all of you at my law firm downtown at 2:00. Don’t be late, or you’ll be replaced. Good day.”

The interns left his office, murmuring excitedly about their opportunity.

“That was intense,” Satoshi said, shaking his head. “Do you think he’ll go slave driver on us?”

“Why? Are you scared?” Shun teased.

“No!”

“It’ll be fun and full of experience,” Shun assured him. “We’ll learn more about law than just studying it from books.”

Satoshi nodded slowly in agreement, and it wasn’t because he doubted Shun. It was because Shun looked so, so…. Ohno wrinkled his nose. What the hell happened to Shun? He couldn’t put a finger to it.

They bid goodbye, and Shun headed back home. It had been a great day for him. He got a new job, and got to know Maki more. Sweet!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A black sports car parked roughly in front of the house. The men hurriedly took their places, ready to assist the boss’s daughter with her shopping bags.

Makiko got out of the driver seat, banging the door behind her. She motioned at the men to get the bags from the trunk while she continued to talk on her phone.

She went inside not bothering to acknowledge the maids’ greetings. She continued down the hall to her room, but abruptly stopped when she passed by the kitchen. The most gorgeous man she’d ever seen was making himself a sandwich oblivious to Makiko’s stares. He put too much jelly so as he bit off of the sandwich, a smudge of jelly was on his chin. Makiko smirked and slithered her way to him.

“You got something here,” she said, pointing to her own chin to let him know where. “I can lick it off of you.” She smiled seductively.

The man, about to be someone her age or a couple of years older, looked at her in surprised at first, but he relaxed a little. “No, thanks,” he said, wiping the area with a paper towel. “See, I got it out.”

Makiko just smiled at him. He seemed to be playing hard to get. “Do you work for Daddy?” she asked as she edged forward to touch his shoulder. He obviously works out.

The guy nodded.

“You seem too young to work for him don’t you think?"

“No, I’m twenty-five.”

“Oh, I always have a thing for guys older than me,” Makiko squealed. “I’m Makiko, by the way.”

“I’m outta here,” he said nodded his head goodbye.

Makiko stunned and just stared at his back as he walked away from her. Yup, definitely a challenge. That’s okay, She loves challenges.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I really perused the limited Japanese words I knew back then. hahaha. Now I hardly use Japanese in my fics. It's interesting seeing how far I've come.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“So, Pi, I heard you got a job?” Ninomiya Kazunari asked.

He, Yamapi, and Sho were at Café Marquis during lunch planning for their next gig. The three were in a band together at their college. They grew up together always singing and dancing.

Yamapi bit his lips. He knew he couldn’t really tell them what his exact job was, but he didn’t want to lie to them, either.

“Um,” he cleared his throat. “I work for this important business CEO. I’m his daughter’s bodyguard.”

Kazunari and Sho stopped half-way on what they were doing, then burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, you’re babysitting,” Kazunari chortled. Sho choked on his food while laughing hard.

“Shut up!” Yamapi exclaimed. “I’m really a bodyguard.”

“OK, OK, fine,” Sho finally managed to talk, sipping water to calm himself.

A few minutes later, they left the café to go to their separate way. As Sho walked by, he thought he noticed a familiar looking girl.

He did a double take, and saw that it was the girl who had bumped into him days ago. She was talking to some guy on a motorcycle.

Sho shrugged, not thinking anything of it and ran to Kazunari’s car which was slowly moving away.

“Oi, baka!” he yelped. “Chotto matte!”

Kazunari cackled as he saw Sho ‘s alarmed face on the mirror. Served him right to dawdle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Makiko knocked on the door of her cousin’s room. Her cousin, Akanishi Jin, had been living with them since his parents kicked him out for wanting to be in the gang. They had since spoke with Yousuke as well.

“What?” Jin’s voice called through the closed door. Makiko opened it and stepped inside.

“How’s shopping?” Jin asked sarcastically. “Any good sale?” He was lounging on his bed, reading a book.

“I didn’t know you read,” Makiko mocked. She crossed her arms. “FYI, I don’t do sales. I pay full price. Sales are for cheap whores.”

Jin scowled. Makiko the queen bitch.

“Yeah, I read,” Jin retorted. “And it’s in English. Let’s see you try that.”

“So, who’s the hottie that Daddy just hired?” Makiko asked changing the subject.

Jin raised an eyebrow. “What’s it to you?” he asked. He knew who he was and why Yousuke hired him, but he was not about to open up the gates of hell.

Makiko shrugged, but slyly smiled.

Jin grunted. “Oi, you’re thinking of sleeping with him or something?”

Makiko just looked at him and shrugged.

“I feel bad for the bastard already,” Jin muttered, shaking his head.

“What’s his name?’

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” He got back reading the book. Makiko could seriously bore him to death.

Makiko scoffed that he was ignoring her. “Bullshit!” she exclaimed. “Daddy’s right-hand man, and not knowing anything about the rookie?”

Jin didn’t bother to look up. “Boo-fucking-hoo. Cry me a river.”

Makiko grabbed one of his pillows and threw it at him as hard as she could. Jin merely turned the page of his book, not affected by it at all.

Makiko got up, and stormed out of his room, banging the door. She stormed into Yousuke’s office, not bothering to knock.

“Daddy!” she shouted, causing Yousuke to look up sharply.

“Makiko, I’ve told you a thousand times to knock,” he said with a strain in his voice.

“Dad,” Makiko started with no apologies to her rudeness. “Who’s the newbie?”

“Oh, you met him already?”

“He was in the kitchen when I passed by there. Who’s he?”

“Yamashita Tomohisa. Your bodyguard.”

“WHAT?” Makiko erupted. “Daddy, he’s cute and all, but I don’t need a babysitter!”

“Bodyguard.”

“SAME THING!”

“Please, calm down,” Yousuke said soothingly. He got up to pour himself a scotch, and sat back down.

“No I will not CALM DOWN! Daddy how could you?”

“Look, you got two choices: either you accept this arrangement, or I’m gonna have to throw you to the fishes, see?”

Makiko rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like you mean that.”

“You’re right, but Jin wouldn’t hesitate to do so if I tell him.”

Makiko sighed. She came over and kneeled at his level to give him a hug and used her “puppy-dog” eyes.

“Please, Daddy, don’t let me have a bodyguard,” she asked sweetly, pouting a little.

“Like hell I’d fall for that,” Yousuke chuckled. “Tomohisa is your bodyguard whether you like it or not.”

Makiko shot up to her feet and screamed in frustration. She stomped out of the office, and banged the door behind her.

She slammed her bedroom door shut, and stomped around her room in frustration. What the hell just happened? She usually gets her way with men, able to persuade them to her wishes easily. Why were there three already not affected by it? She paused to ponder if she had lost her seductiveness. It couldn’t be, and so to test it out, she went over to the room where Yousuke’s men hang out and asked for Aiba Masaki.

Masaki stepped out and asked what she wanted.

“Are you busy tonight?” she purred in his ears.

Masaki gave her a smirked. “Why?” he flirted back. “Miss me already?” He pinned Makiko to the wall, inching his lips closer to hers, but never touching.

“Hey, you know the rules,” Makiko reminded him. “Daddy’s gonna castrate you if he sees us.”

Masaki stopped and slowly backed away. Makiko grabbed his collar.

“I’ll see you in my room, though,” she whispered in his ear, then walked away, leaving Masaki all excited and impatient for his shift to be over. Hmm… she still has her seductive powers after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NYC, NY USA

The bustle noises of the class working in groups were getting louder. The drama teacher, Nicholas Sparks, frowned.

“People, we are not at an open-air market,” he reprimanded. The class knew what he meant, and turned their voices down.

“Sheesh, so dramatic,” Ariel complained, rolling her eyes. Toma’s drama group was working on their assigned group project that Mr. Sparks had given, and his group got the musical play.

“OK, guys,” Chun Wu said, naturally taking over the leadership. Ariel smiled longingly at him.

Toma noticed her face, and stifled a laugh. For an actress, she really sucked at hiding her feelings on Chun. He decided to tease her about it when the right opportunity comes.

“Well, first of all, we need a plot for our play,” Sarah Geronimo supplied.

“How about this?” Yuya Tegoshi added. He cleared his throat. “A guy met a girl at some party, and they randomly got partnered for a karaoke contest. He loved her voice, and they talked for a bit after they sang, and exchanged numbers. Then she disappeared from the party, and he wonders if he’ll ever see him again…”

“Sorry,” Vanessa Hudgens interrupted, shaking her head. “But it sounds very, um, how should I put it? Very Disney-ish.”

“No, wait,” Yuya waved his hands. “I thought up something that could work with that plot. It can be set to music. Listen. ‘It’s hard to believe that I couldn’t see, but you were always there beside me. Thought I was alone with no one to hold, but you were always there beside me.’ Huh?”

Ariel shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, Tego, but it sounds stalker-ish to me.”

“You should know,” Toma smirked, referring to Ariel’s stalker behavior to Chun. Ariel smacked him with her notebook.

“OK, OK, guys,” Chun refocused the group. “Tego, we can use that as a back-up if nobody had thought up of one. By the way, Ariel, did you get to ask your friend about accompanying us on piano?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ariel perked up. “She can help out after her recital. I told her that by that time, we should have at least some idea what we’re gonna do.”

Chun nodded and smiled. “Great news. Thanks for working on that,” he said.

Ariel swooned. “You’re welcome, babe,” she sighed. Chun looked up from his notes.

“What was that?” he asked.

Ariel shook her head fast. “Nothing.”

They finally were dismissed from class. Toma went up behind Ariel.

“’You’re welcome, babe’,” he mimicked and chuckled. “God, could you please be more obvious.”

Ariel smacked his arm. “Shut up.” She looked at Chun, who was walking out the door. “Do you think he knows I like him?”

Toma shrugged. Ariel turned to him and perked up.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot to ask you,” she said. They walked out the door of the classroom.

“What?” Toma asked.

“Can you come with me to my friend’s recital? She’s the one who’s gonna help us out.”

“Why do you need me there?”

“I just want you to meet her before the rest of the group does. Please? I’ll pay for your ticket.”

Toma thought about it for a moment, and nodded. Ariel clapped her hands excitedly.

“Great!” she squealed. Toma looked at her suspiciously.

“Are you setting me up with her?” he asked. Ariel gave him her best innocent look.

“No,” she replied, walking a bit ahead him. Toma walked fast to catch up.

“You know I like someone else, right?” he reminded his best friend. Ariel stopped and turned to him. She sighed.

“Toma,” she said. “That girl you like is just someone you chat with online. You haven’t even met her. What if it’s actually some perv who prey good-looking guys like you online then ask you to meet somewhere then rape you?”

Toma rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll meet this girl, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be love at first sight.”

Ariel held up her hands as if to surrender. “That’s all I ask, sweetie, just to meet her.”

They continued on their way to the library to get ideas for the plot to counteract Yuya’s.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who remembers High School Musical?


	7. Chapter 6

August 1985

The lady smiled sweetly at the couple sitting in front of her. The husband, a German, and his wife, a Japanese, were thinking of adopting a baby girl from her adoption agency. Her agency wasn’t a regular adoption agency; she only catered to those who ranked higher in the social status. The Wentz, the couple in front of her now, was just that.

“Peter Wentz-san and Risa Wentz- san, I have great news,” she said excitedly, clasping her hands. “I have found you a baby girl.” She waited as the Wentz hugged each other excitedly.

The lady nodded, then continued. “The mother came to us because she just couldn’t keep her baby and would rather have someone adopt her than have her aborted. The baby is due in a couple of months.”

Risa Wentz squeezed her husband’s hand and started to get teary. She had wanted to adopt a girl and it seemed that she could finally have her wish come true.

“Doumo arigatou gozaimasu,” Peter bowed to the lady. “You have no idea how much that news means to us.”

The lady smiled and nodded. “You’re very welcome,” she said. “Well, I better tell you what to expect before the baby comes.” She waited for them to focus on her. “As you know, this is a close adoption. There will be no contacts between you and the birth mother. I will work as a bridge between you and help you finalize the adoption papers. Neither of the parties will know each other’s names to preserve anonymity. Here are the forms that you need to fill out,” she handed a packet of forms to them.

The Wentz looked over the procedures and contract, and stamped their signatures on them. The lady smiled as she took the signed forms back. She stood up to indicate that they were done for that day. The Wentz followed her lead and shook her hand as they thanked her again. She ushered them out of the office, telling them they would see each other in two months.

Two months later…

Nobody knew her intent, not even her friends from work suspected what she had planned to do. She smiled at the doctor, who just ignored her. She scowled. The doctors she worked with could be such asses, but she smiled nevertheless, just what they expect a good nurse to do.

She had planned this months ago when she had overheard two doctors at the cafeteria talking about their cases. She had rolled her eyes about the fact that these two doctors were breaking the “confidentiality” rule, and were talking about their patients. One of them, an OB/GYN, had mentioned that a woman was pregnant with triplets.

The wheels of her twisted brain had turned. She had been looking for babies that could be “adoptable” and her chances had come. The woman was going to have three anyway, she wouldn’t miss one, she had thought.

So here she was, assisting the RN that was assigned to be that very woman’s nurse. She had been following her case secretly; finding out her name, her husband’s, their work, and everything else she thought was necessary.

That night, she slipped some Valium into the IV line, and as the mother became groggy, she took a baby from the bassinet. She nonchalantly left the mother’s room, and carried the baby out. One of the RN saw her came out and walked over to her.

“What are you doing?” she asked curiously. “The mother told us that her babies are not supposed to leave her side. Why are you carrying one out?”

“Well, she told me that the baby was crying so hard that she couldn’t rest and had asked me to calm her out here,” she reasoned to her superior.

The RN looked at her, but nodded and went back to check on another patient. She sighed in relief and when she saw that no one was looking, she made her way in the nurse’s lounge and locked the door. She took off the nametag from the baby’s wrist, careful not to turn on the alarm, and change the baby.

She slipped out of the unit and went down to the entrance of the hospital where an assistant from her agency was waiting. She passed the baby to the assistant, and then went back to the unit. She was careful to put a doll in the bassinet to disguise as one of the babies. She had planned everything so well that nobody suspected her for kidnapping a baby.

Two days later, she met with the Wentz again, and gave them the baby. The couple was overjoyed for their newest addition in the family. After signing and paying the agent, the Wentz left, never suspecting that the baby they had adopted was taken from her mother illegally.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END FLASHBACK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NYC, NY USA

Peter and Risa Wentz were in their room, discussing about the letter of lawsuit against the very agent that they had used to adopt Mackenzie. The letter stated that they were to report as witnesses and victims of the criminal act of the agency that disguised themselves as a legitimate business establishment. No couples, including the Wentz, that came to use that agency knew that the babies passed to them were kidnapped from mothers.

“What should we do, Peter?” Risa asked worriedly. They had already told Mackenzie when she was eight that they had adopted her. Mackenzie accepted that fact, which was a very mature behavior for an eight-year-old, and seemed to understand that they love her anyway, even if they had Eiji, their biological son.

Peter shook his head. The trial was scheduled in two months, so they had limited time to think what would be a good way to tell Mackenzie about it.

“We’ll tell her in two weeks,” Peter said. “She should be done with recitals by then, right?” Risa nodded. They had decided to tell her then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The six new interns for Iwase were waiting in the lobby for Iwase-san to call them. Shun smiled in greeting at each of them. They had been in one class or other throughout these years in the law school, and knew one another.

Shun smiled at Koyama Keiichiro, who was sitting nervously across from him, and trying to breath deeply. Next to Keiichiro was Nagasawa Masami, who was chatting animatedly with Toda Erica. However, Erica seemed to be annoyed with her, but was too polite to tell Masami to shut up.

“Why do you think it’s like that?” Hiraoka Yuta asked Shun. He was sitting next to him. Shun turned to him, puzzled.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“There are six of us interning, but only two are women,” Yuta explained. “I was just wondering why it’s so. Aren’t there more girls in our classes?”

Satoshi, who had been sitting at Shun’s other side, turned to Yuta.

“I think that girls would rather intern with female lawyers, so they didn’t bother to give their résumés to Iwase,” he said in a loud whisper. Masami stopped talking and the two girls stared at them.

“You are such a di-“

“Konnichiwa, minna-san,” Professor Iwase’s secretary greeted them, unintentionally cutting off Masami. She ushered them to the conference room. Professor Iwase was pleased at this group’s punctuality. He motioned for them to find a seat.

“Welcome,” he said when they had all settled down. “I’m going to cut to the chase and tell you what my new case is. As you know, I work as one of the district attorneys, and we are prosecuting a former CEO of illegal business dealings. It was a popular adoption agency that only deals with couples of high social status.” He passed them packets of the case information.

“This agency had been under the radar for suspicious acts,” Iwase continued, “and the main one is that they kidnap babies and passed them on to unsuspecting couples that come to them for children to adopt.” He paused to glance at the girls, who gasped in shock.

“Your jobs are to help me research and organized your findings against this woman and the agency, and to follow each adoption case,” Iwase paused to passed out copies of letters to the group, then continued. “The district had already sent out letters to as many clients of the agency as we could find, asking them to stand for witnesses and as victims for the fraud. I’ve put you in groups so that we can divide the tasks at hand to get more done. The trial is scheduled in two months. We had a hearing a week ago and the CEO pleaded not guilty.”

Iwase gave them their groupings and their assignments. Shun couldn’t help his amusement at Satoshi’s situation. Masami was in his group, and she had been giving him death glares for his sexist theory since they came into the office. Iwase dismissed them two hours later, and Shun couldn’t wait to get home. It had been a long day and he needed to get some sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KNOCK, KNOCK

Maki opened the door and found Mao standing there. She hugged her excitedly.

“What a surprise!” Maki said happily. She then saw Hiro coming up the stairs, struggling with shopping bags.

“Thanks for helping, babe,” he said to Mao sarcastically. He dropped the bags by the door to hug his cousin. “Genki?” he asked Maki, who replied that she’s fine. She was about to let them in, when Shun came up the stairs and saw them in the hall.

“Konbanwa, Maki,” he greeted with a smile. Maki smiled at him and greeted him back. For a moment, they just looked at each other, until Mao cleared her throat on purpose.

“Oh, uh, Shun,” Maki said, snapping out of her reverie. “This is my cousin Hiro, and my friend Mao. Guys, this is Shun, my next-door neighbor.”

“We came to visit Maki and we’re gonna eat out for dinner,” Mao said to Shun. “Would you like to join us?”

Shun smiled. “Sure,” he said, nodding his head. He saw the shopping bags at Hiro’s feet. “Need a hand with those?” he asked him. Hiro nodded, and together, they put the bags inside Maki’s apartment.

“Such a gentleman,” Mao whispered in Maki’s ear while the guys were inside. Maki nudged her with her elbow. Mao just giggled.

Minutes later, the four of them were at the restaurant getting to know one another. Maki looked in puzzlement at Hiro and Mao’s behavior. They were sitting across from her, cuddling each other more than usual. She turned to see if Shun was awkward towards them, but he just looked at them in amusement.

“OK, what’s going on?” she finally asked them. Hiro and Mao turned and looked at her.

“What do you mean?” Mao asked, feigning innocence. Maki narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“Don’t play innocent. Something’s going on. You two are being too lovey-dovey,” she said, and turned to Shun. “We all grew up together and I know Mao well enough to know she’s lying to me.”

“OK, OK, we’ll tell you,” Mao said, but turned to Hiro. “You tell her, babe, since she’s your cousin.”

Hiro cleared his throat. “Um, we’re getting married!” he exclaimed. Mao squealed and smiled widely.

“Ha! I knew something’s up!” she said, giving them hugs and kisses. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Mao said. “So, how about you? When do you plan to get married?”

“Yeah, right,” Maki said. “I don’t even have a boyfriend, yet.”

“Well, get one!” Mao ordered and turned to Shun. “Don’t you think she needs one now, Shun-kun?” she asked. Maki kicked her under the table.

“Ow,” Hiro yelped and glared at her. Shun wasn’t fazed out at Mao’s not-so-subtle hint and just smiled.

“I’m sure some guy will be very lucky to have her,” he said turning to Maki, who was blushing profusely.

After dinner, they went back to their apartment building where Shun said good night and goodbye to them before getting inside his apartment. Minutes later, Hiro and Mao left as well.

Maki woke up screaming in the middle of the night. She gasped for breath, and cried softly. Moments later, she heard a knock. Maki quietly went to the door and peeped out. Shun was standing outside in boxers and a wifebeater tank. Maki opened the door and asked him in.

“Hey, are you okay?” Shun asked worriedly. “I heard you scream and just checking to see if you’re alright.” Maki couldn’t hold her tears and cried on his chest. Shun wrapped his arms around her and let her cry it out.

“It’s okay, I’m here,” he said soothingly, hugging her tighter. “I’ll protect you.”

After Maki calmed down, she told Shun her story between sniffs. Shun listened intently, still have his arms wrapped around her.

“Daijoubou,” he said. “Yosh, I’ll help you.”

Maki looked up at him with tear stained face. “What?” she asked.

Shun wiped a tear with his thumb. “I’ll help you find your sisters,” he promised. Maki smiled and gave him a hug.

“Thank you, Shun,” she said. Shun stooped down and kissed her. Maki’s eyes widened in surprised, but closed as she kissed him back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NYC, NY USA

The recital hall was slowly packed full of proud families and friends, eager to see their bright vocalist show off their voices. Toma looked around the hall, and sighed. Ariel nudged him with his elbow.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Is this gonna take long?” he asked impatiently. The lights dimmed to signal that they were about to start.

“Just help me support my friend,” Ariel whispered as the MC announced the first student.

“I don’t even know what she looks like,” Toma retorted loudly. An old lady sitting in front of them turned around, giving them a shut-your-mouth-or-I’ll-shut-it-for-you look. Toma and Ariel Lin grinned sheepishly at her, but stuck their tongues out when she turned to face the stage again.

One by one, each vocalist came to sing their number, and Toma grew sleepy with each performance.

“Our next student will be Mackenzie Wentz, who will be singing ‘Aria’ from ‘The Magician’s Flute’ by Mozart.”

Ariel ribbed Toma awake with her elbow. “That’s my friend,” she whispered. Toma sat up to see. To his surprised, it was the same girl who had that asshole of a brother that caused him to get fired. Toma huffed angrily which made Ariel looked at him in shock.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“That’s the girl I told you about,” he said. Ariel looked at him, confused. “From the restaurant.” Ariel’s eyes widen in realization. She hoped that Toma wouldn’t judge Mackenzie by Eiji’s attitude.

Toma sat through Mackenzie’s performance, glaring at her. Even though his pride was still a bit hurt, he admitted that Mackenzie had a great voice, and he found himself liking it.

After the recital, Toma quickly stood up to make a quick exit, but Ariel grabbed his wrist before he got away.

“Please, Toma,” she begged. “Just say hi. Please?” She pouted and gave him a looked. Toma sighed.

“Sorry, Ariel,” he apologized, pulling his hand away. “I don’t want to talk to her.” He turned around and head for the door.

“Toma!” Ariel called out to him, but he didn’t turn to look.

He hated disappointing his friend, but he couldn’t help it. That girl’s brother embarrassed him so much, he still couldn’t get over it. He knew that eventually he would have to face her since she was their group’s accompaniment. He sighed. He had to get over it soon for the sake of his group. Not tonight, though. It’s too soon.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early 2000s chapter, folks! haha. Like I said, consider it an historical fiction or something.

Chapter 7

Yamapi sat on the plushy faux fur couch at the store waiting for Makiko inside the fitting room. Well, he was more like slouching impatiently, smacking a wad of gum in his mouth, tempted to put it on the couch.

The other customers and workers kept stealing glances at him. He wondered if he really looked good in his outfit: black patent leather shoes, white suit pants, black silk dress shirt under white suit jacket, and a white Fedora hat with a wide black band around it.

He looked at his reflection and gave it a smug smile. Damn, he did look good. His expression changed, however, when he remember what Kazunari and Sho said about his outfit earlier at Café Marquis.

“Are you doing an impersonation of Michael Jackson from his ‘Smooth Criminal’ music video?” Kazunari had teased. Sho spat out the Coke he just sipped, spraying Yamapi a bit.

“Sou ka!” Sho exclaimed in realization. “I thought I’ve seen that outfit before.” He pointed at Yamapi’s hand, “Ano, where’s your fingerless glove?”

Yamapi threw each a packet of sugar to their foreheads, barely hitting them in the eye.

“Shut up!” Yamapi growled. “I’m trying to look the part--” He stopped when he realized he said too much.

The two just nodded their heads didn’t think any of it, trying to stifle another wave of laughter.

Yamapi frowned at the memory.

“Bakas,” he mumbled, attracting weird glances his way. He ignored him, and sighed impatiently. It had been two weeks since he got this job, and still, he wasn’t immune to Makiko’s shopping habit. He wondered if it really takes this long to try on underwear.

He and Makiko were at some expensive lingerie store; and at this moment, Makiko had tried on stuff after stuff, but never seemed to make up her mind. Yamapi slouched lower and lower, until he was practically lying on the couch.

“Yamapi,” Makiko suddenly appeared in front of him. She was wearing a black, lacy teddy made of thin materials that Yamapi could see her bra, and matching black silk panties. She posed with one hand on her hip. Yamapi quickly sat up, wide-eyed at the vision in front of him. Makiko slowly turned around so he could have a good look. She smiled secretly. Surely he’d want her now.

“What do you think?” she asked seductively, and turned to look over her shoulder. She frowned. Yamapi was covering his eyes with his hat. She sighed in exasperation. What the hell was she going to do to get him to lust after her?

“What are you doing?” she asked impatiently. She turned to face him, crossing her arms and glowered.

“Are you decent?” Yamapi asked through the hat. Makiko grabbed a robe the store provides and put in on.

“Yes, Father Yamashita,” she mocked sarcastically. Yamapi put the hat down and grinned at her sheepishly.

“Are you getting it?” he asked, hoping against hope that she has decided on something.

Makiko shrugged. “If I say yes, would you stay with me tonight?” she asked, smiling.

Yamapi sighed. “Oi, I guess I’ll be waiting for another hour,” he said. Makiko huffed and stormed back to the fitting room.

A few minutes later, to Yamapi’s relief, they finally left the store. Yamapi struggled with the other bags she had already collected from different stores. He put them in the trunk of Makiko’s car, and soon they pulled out of the plaza parking lot.

“I’m going clubbing tonight,” Makiko informed him, swerving expertly between cars. “You can come with me, if you want.”

Yamapi rolled his eyes. “I’m your bodyguard, of course I have to be there.”

“For a bodyguard, you seem to be not doing anything.”

“Has someone attacked you? Has someone tried to poison you? Has someone attempted kidnapping you?”

“No,” Makiko answered slowly, trying to figured out where he’s getting at.

“Then I did my job. I scared them away.”

Makiko laughed mockingly. “Maybe your outfit scares them away.”

“Hardy har har,” Yamapi laughed sarcastically. “This is my yakuza outfit.”

“Daddy and the others never wear something that extreme,” she said. She glanced at him sideways. “Besides, you look like you’re doing a Michael Jackson impersonation. Have you seen the ‘Smooth Criminal’ video?”

Yamapi sighed, but didn’t reply. Instead he turned his head to look out the window.

They finally arrived at her house, and Makiko left Yamapi to take care of her bags as she went in to get ready for going clubbing. When he finally got her things, and put them away in her room,

Yamapi went to the lounge room to see if the others were there. Nobody was there, meaning that Yousuke went somewhere. Yamapi lied on the couch, and turned on the TV. The door slid open, and in walked Jin. Yamapi looked at him curiously.

“I didn’t go with them,” Jin said as if reading his mind. He swaggered over to Yamapi, and nudged him with his shoe. “Oi, I hoped you did what I told you to do. Or rather, ‘didn’t’ do.”

“If you’re talking about that stupid threat you told me, then yeah, I never laid hands on Makiko,” Yamapi scoffed. Jin smirked at him.

“For your own good, you’d better not,” Jin threatened. As he left the room, Yamapi narrowed his eyes at Jin’s retreating back. That was it? That idiot, of course he wouldn’t do anything to Makiko to anger Yousuke. He decided that before Jin threatened him a week ago. He sighed and returned to watching his show again. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

##

Yamapi drowsily rubbed his eyes open and surprised he couldn’t see. For a moment, he thought he had gone blind and couldn’t remember where he was. He smacked his forehead, as he realized he was inside the dark lounge room. He took out his phone, and immediately sat up when he saw that it was 10:45pm.

Quickly, he dashed to Makiko’s room, only to find out she wasn’t there. He ran out the house and saw that her car was gone. Panicked and anger formed inside Yamapi as he got on his Ducati to look for Makiko at the club. As he raced down the city streets to Velvet Lounge, a high-end club where Makiko and her rich friends frequent, he hoped that Yousuke wouldn’t know he had lost her. Again.

Yamapi gritted his teeth. Two weeks! He had been her bodyguard for two weeks already, and still she didn’t respect him enough to let him do his job. He knew from the start that she didn’t want him at all. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. She wanted him, but not as a bodyguard, but more for bodygrinding. She didn’t have to be so…

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” Yamapi let out his frustrations as he revved up the bike faster.

He finally reached Velvet Lounge, and made it inside without much hassle from the bouncer. Damn, it’s good to be gorgeous. He glanced around the crowded room, looking for his charged. He made his way further in between dancing bodies, slightly pushing them out of the way.

She was wearing a low-back red dress that showed off her milky white skin. Her back was toward Yamapi, and didn’t see him a few feet behind her. She was at the bar flirting with some guy, leaning toward him as if they were sharing some secret. The guy, who was also leaning forward to her, had black hair and tan skin. He was smiling widely at her as she was talking to him, clearly giving her all the attention. Yamapi grunted in disgust as he watched from a distance. He didn’t know if he should interrupt them, risking Makiko’s wrath.

The guy put his hand on Makiko’s bare back, and triggered Yamapi possessiveness. He headed toward them and trying to play it cool.

“Ahem,” Yamapi stood in their midst, clearing his throat. Makiko and the guy turned their heads to him. Yamapi smiled innocently. “How’s it going, Makiko?” he asked. He motioned for the bartender for a beer.

Makiko smiled forcibly smiled at him. “Yamapi, what a surprise,” she said icily.

“Who the hell is this?” the guy asked, glancing Yamapi in disgust. Yamapi wanted to strangle him right there, but instead he offered his right hand to him.

“Yamashita Tomohisa desu,” he calmly introduced himself. The guy just looked at his hand, but didn’t shake it.

“Nishikido Ryo,” the guy said in a bored tone. He took a swig of his beer and went back to face Makiko, ignoring Yamapi.

“Ne, Makiko, why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?” Yamapi interrupted. “We could’ve come here together.” Makiko glared at him.

“I told you, I don’t need you,” Makiko said through gritted teeth.

“Who is this guy?” Ryo asked. Makiko sighed.

“He’s my bodyguard,” Makiko explained in exaggerated sigh. She turned back to Yamapi. “Go home. I can take care of myself.”

“No way, your dad’s gonna kill me if he finds out I left you alone at a club.”

“I won’t tell.”

“Nope, not leaving till you’re safely home,” Yamapi insisted. He sat on the stool next to Makiko.

Makiko got up, and smiled at Ryo. “Ikou,” she said, not glancing at Yamapi. “Suddenly feels too crowded in here.” Ryo smiled and gladly took her hand.

“Chotto matte,” Yamapi grabbed her wrist, which she quickly pulled away.

“Just go, Yamapi,” Makiko hissed at him in his face. Ryo pulled her away from him and left. Yamapi got up to follow, but a couple of guys blocked him. Yamapi smiled at them, and tried to pass through, but they pushed him against the bar counter.

Yamapi hissed in pain and straightened up. He walked over and punched the first guy in the eye, knocking him back to a table. His friend tried to attack him, but Yamapi was too quick. He kneed the guy in the stomach, causing him to crouch down to the floor. Yamapi ran out of the club and into the street. He looked left and right to see where they could’ve gone. He finally saw a glimpse of Makiko getting in Ryo’s car. Yamapi crossed the street, almost got run over by an oncoming car.

“Sumimasen!” He yelled at the angry driver as he took off running after Ryo’s car. He quickly got back on his bike and followed the car a good distance from it. The car parked in from of another club, but this one looked less classy than Velvet Lounge. Ryo went to the passenger door to help Makiko out. Yamapi watched a few feet away, hiding in the shadows. He had parked his bike farther and walked to where he was now. They went inside the club as if they own the place. Yamapi nonchalantly walked over to get in.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the 6-feet 5-inches 250 lbs. bouncer asked, grabbing Yamapi’s shirt.

“To party,” Yamapi grinned jokingly. The bouncer didn't laugh but pushed him away instead.

“It’s full,” the bouncer said to Yamapi while he let six people in. Yamapi sighed in frustration. He went on his way, but instead of leaving to get home, he rounded the corner into the back alley of the club. He found the back door that led to the kitchen, and slipped inside.

He finally got inside the main club, and started looking for that slimeball and Ryo. Yamapi laughed at his joke. Okay, so Makiko wasn’t a slimeball, just stubborn. He didn’t find them on the main floor, so he climbed the steps to the VIP section. He looked around but it seemed they weren’t there. Yamapi walked farther in, glad that people were ignoring him.

He saw them snuggling on one of the couches, sipping on their drinks. Yamapi watched them from a distance, sitting at some table. He hid behind the menu to check them out. He really didn’t care what she does, or rather, who she does as long as she’s safe.

Ryo suddenly kissed Makiko and it took every will power Yamapi could summon not to go over to him and punch his lights out. How dare he kissed his Makiko! She didn’t object and soon they started making out. Yamapi watched angrily, and realized something: why did he feel betrayed? He didn’t care whom she gets on with. It’s not like he likes her. Yamapi mentally shook himself to think straight.

##

Ryo’s hand made his way up her leg, and Makiko suddenly felt weird. She knew Yamapi was watching them across the room. She saw him came up the VIP section, but didn’t mention it to Ryo. When he kissed her, she thought that she would make Yamapi jealous and so kissed him back hard.

Ryo’s kisses were getting demanding as if he was depraved of it and was hungry. Makiko tried to make him stop by biting his tongue, but he seemed to like that. Makiko swatted his hand, but he moved it around her shoulders, wrapping her tightly.

“Stop,” she said softly, pushing him slightly. Ryo stopped for a moment.

“I thought you like doing these kind of things,” he said, not letting go a bit. He started for her mouth again.

“Wait, what things?” Makiko tried to distract him. Ryo smirked.

“You know,” he said seductive, and kissed her neck.

“Wait, stop,” Makiko gasped, trying to push him off, but he was too heavy for her. “Matte, kudasai.” Still, Ryo kept kissing her.

Suddenly, Ryo was lifted off of her. Yamapi had pulled him and forced Ryo to face him.

“When a lady says, ‘stop,’ that means stop,” he said in a matter-of-fact. Ryo smirked at him, swatting Yamapi’s arms off of him.

“What? Now she’s playing hard to get?” Ryo glanced at Makiko. “My friends said you’re the easiest fuck in Tokyo. Now you wanna play the modest card?”

Yamapi slugged Ryo with his fist, making him staggered back into the couch. Ryo quickly got up and hit Yamapi on the nose. Yamapi wiped his nose, then took a swing at Ryo. They went at it for a minute before security came to separate them. Yamapi took Makiko’s wrist, and pulled her out of the club. He didn’t let go until they had reached his bike. He didn’t say anything the whole ride back to the house. He dropped her off, and went on his way. He didn’t say goodbye, either. Makiko sighed wearily once she reached her room. God, it was a long day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NYC, NY USA

Mackenzie walked to the group where she saw Ariel. She was meeting them finally. Ariel noticed her and motioned for her to hurry up. They were in one of the classroom of the music department. It had been two weeks since she had her rehearsal, so Mackenzie had time to help out.

“Mack, so glad you made it,” Ariel greeted her with a hug. “Come, I’ll introduce you to the group.” She pointed to each individual respectively. “That’s Vanessa Hudgens, Sarah Geronimo, Chun Wu, Yuya Tegoshi, who we call Tego, Takahisa Masuda, who we call Massu, Sandara Park, and Hero Angeles.”

“Hi,” Mackenzie waved at them. Chun went over to her and handed her a draft script.

“Here’s what we have so far,” he said. Mackenzie looked it over and laughed.

“Romeo Y Julio?” she asked in puzzlement. “Is this what I think it is?” She glanced at everybody.

Sarah shrugged. “We were just throwing in ideas no matter how crazy it was, but this one stood out,” she explained. “I saw ‘Tokyo Friends the day before we met for brainstorming and in the drama, there was a drama troupe that combined ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with ‘Little Miss Ridinghood.’”

“Yeah,” Sandara explained further. “We thought we could do that, but with different movie or something, so Hero thought up ‘Rent.’” She rolled her eyes, but Hero shrugged and grinned sheepishly.

“What? It’s funny,” he defended himself.

“So, you’re singing the songs from ‘Rent’?” Mackenzie asked, looking through the script.

“No,” Takahisa replied. “We wanna do something like ‘Across the Universe’ where they sang Beatles’ songs. We decided to sing to the --”

“Sorry!” two voices called at the same time. Mackenzie turned around and saw two other guys came in hurriedly. She looked closely at the other one, but realized it was that waiter who Eiji got fired. Suddenly her cheeks burned. This is going to be awkward.

“Guys, why were you two late?” Chun asked, frowning at them. The guys gasped for breath before giving their excuse.

“Sorry, we got caught up at the anime expo going on a few blocks from here,” the redhead guy explained.

Mackenzie gasped. “Oh my god, I totally forgot it starts today!” she exclaimed, forgetting her shyness. Everybody glanced at her. She grinned.

“Sorry. I just love anime and manga,” she explained. She glanced at the redhead guy, who looked at her with indifference. Mackenzie started to wonder if he forgot about her.

“Who are you?” the other guy asked. Ariel slapped her forehead.

“Sorry I forgot to introduce you to these two,” she apologized to Mackenzie. She pointed to the guy who just asked who she was. “This is Jun Matsumoto.”

Jun waved hi at her and she nodded her greeting. Ariel pointed to the redhead. “This is Toma Ikuta, my best guy friend.”

“Hi,” Mackenzie said hesitantly. Toma gave her a tight-lipped smile and nodded hi.

Chun handed out the scripts to the two and gave out the roles.

“Sandara and Hero, you two play Mr. and Mrs. Montague. Vanessa, you’ll be the nurse. Sarah, you’re Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin. Tego, you’re Mercutio, Massu, you’re Tybalt, and Ariel and I are Mr. and Mrs. Capulet. Oh, Vanessa. If the script is revised during rehearsal, maybe you’ll get to play Paris, too.”

“Wait a sec,” Jun said, confused. “What about us?”

“As punishment, you two will play Romeo and Julio.”

“EEHHHHHH?????????” Jun and Toma exclaimed. Chun could be so cruel.

Toma sighed dejectedly. “Fine, but I ain’t kissing him,” he pointed at Jun with his thumb.

“Who wants to kiss you anyway?” Jun retorted, sticking out his tongue.

“Ohhhh, lovers’ quarrel already?” Hero teased. Toma and Jun glared at him, but Hero just laughed.

“OK, OK, let’s start reading out loud,” Chun said. “We don’t have much time.”

So, for the next few minutes, the acting group line read the script and made changes here and there, as Mackenzie sat there reading along. In her head, she knew what songs to put as dialogue already. Yuya was a genius for thinking up the boy band’s songs in the first place.

Chun had finally decided they needed to go home, so everyone got their stuff ready. Toma grabbed his books quickly that a couple dropped on the floor next to Mackenzie. She reached down to pick it up.

“Bleach!” she said excitedly reading the cover. “I don’t even have this volume, yet. Were they selling it at the expo?” She looked at Toma expectantly.

Toma just nodded, didn’t really look at her. Mackenzie handed the book back. Toma turned around and headed out the door.

“Wait, Toma, we’ll walk out with you,” Ariel said. They were the last ones to get out. Ariel walked between them looking at them back and forth.

“So, Mackenzie,” Ariel started, trying to get a conversation going. “What are your plans for the summer?”

“I’m going to Tokyo with my parents,” she replied. Mackenzie glanced at Toma, was kept his head down. “We’re needed to be there for something important.”

Ariel turned to Toma. “How about you?”

He shrugged. “Well, I can’t afford going somewhere else since I don’t have a job,” he said.

Ariel suddenly stopped. “That’s it! I’ve had it!” she exclaimed, stopping Mackenzie and Toma in their tracks. “You two need to air out something in order for you to be friends.”

She sat both of them down on a nearby bench. “Give me your keys,” she demanded.

“I rode the bus to here,” Mackenzie said.

“I rode with Jun.”

“Fine, your laptops then.”

“I left it at home,” Mackenzie lied.

“Me, too.”

“You two are made for each other cuz you know why? You’re both liars!” Ariel called them out. “Now I know you both have your laptops on you. I know you two too well. Hand them over.”

Mackenzie and Toma sighed and complied with her request.

“I’ll keep these until you guys are done airing out stuff. I’ll be right over there.” Ariel sat down three benches away.

Mackenzie and Toma sat quietly for a few minutes. Mackenzie glanced sideways at Toma, who at the same time glanced at her. Mackenzie blushed.

“I’m sorry about what happened at the restaurant,” Mackenzie said regrettably. “My brother can be such as ass sometime. No, scratch that, all the time.”

Toma shrugged. “It’s okay,” he said. “It was partly my fault.” He glanced at her. “Are you really into Bleach?” he asked in surprised.

“Yeah,” Mackenzie replied, looking at him in disbelief. “Are you saying that girls shouldn’t be into Bleach?”

“Iie, iie,” Toma said, waving his hand no. “Just didn’t think that you’d be into it.”

“Because I’m a girl,” Mackenzie supplied. She looked at him struggling to explain his reasoning and laughed. “It’s okay. Actually, nobody knows I’m into those things except for Ariel. My mom wants me to only concentrate on music.”

“Do you like singing?” Toma asked. Mackenzie nodded.

“Sure, but only as a hobby. My mom’s plan, however, is for me to be a professional pianist, violinist and vocalist.”

“You play the violin and piano, too?”

Mackenzie nodded. “How about you?” she asked. “Do you like acting?”

“I’m going to be a famous actor someday,” Toma smiled assuredly. “In Japan, though. Too much competition in that field in this country. How about you? If music is just a hobby, what do you want to do?”

“Web graphic designer, but my mom will kill me if I quit Julliard and go to school and major in computer graphics.”

“Hey,” Ariel suddenly stood in front of them. “Let go. I’m hungry.” Mackenzie and Toma stood up, and the three of them headed home.

##

“So, what were you and Toma talking about?” Ariel asked Mackenzie later that evening. She was lying on her stomach on Mackenzie’s bed, propping herself with her elbows.

“Oh, just boring stuff,” Mackenzie said mysteriously. The YM alert sounded, turning Mackenzie’s attention back to the computer. “Hey it’s him.”

“Who?” Ariel asked, looking over her shoulder to see the screen. Her eyes widen in surprised and quickly covered her mouth to prevent from screaming. She backed away and turned around.

Mackenzie is Toma’s “Zie-Gurl”? Ariel couldn’t believe it. She put her finger to her lips as she thought up what to do. She scratched her head. Should she tell Mackenzie that “Atom” is actually Toma? She leaned on one leg and put her hands on her hips. What if Mackenzie gets embarrassed ad never speak to him again? Then they’ll never get together. Ariel sighed in frustration. Suddenly she lighted up and snapped her fingers. She got it! A sneaky idea came to mind.

“Oi!” Mackenzie called from behind her. Ariel slowly turned to face her. Mackenzie looked at her as if she had gone crazy. ‘What are you doing?” she asked in puzzlement.

Ariel gave her a sheepish grin. “Just practicing my lines,” she said, plopping back on the bed. Mackenzie shrugged and went back chatting with Atom. She didn’t see Ariel grinning mischievously behind her back.

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Yousuke sat in the VIP section of a prestigious bar notorious of being the place where illegal businesses where exchange among different parties. He was waiting for some guy who claimed that he had what Yousuke wanted.

The guy finally showed up with a briefcase. He nodded slightly at Yousuke and his men who stood stoically behind him. Yousuke motioned him to take the empty chair in front of him. He guy did so, and opened the briefcase. Inside was a silver rectangular shaped plate that was used for printing money. This particular plate was for $100 US dollar.

Yousuke motioned to Tanaka Koki, who opened a briefcase filled with money.

“All 500,000,000, yen,” Yousuke said, huffing on a cigar.

“We settled for 1,000,000,000,” the guy said angrily.

“You’re only showing me half the set, so, I give you half of what it’s worth.” Yousuke calmly explained. “You want all 1,000,000,000 yen, give me the other plate, too.”

“The boss didn’t want me to bring the whole set,” the guy smirked. “He said that if you want the other plate, you gotta go to him for it.”

“You tell him that I’ll take him up on that offer.”

The guy angrily got up and stormed out from his presence. Yousuke just smirked at his retreating back. He definitely will take up on that offer.

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“Ahh, can you believe this?” Yuta complained scratching his head in frustration. He and Shun were given the task of sorting through boxes of adoption papers. Shun just gave him a small smiled, but didn’t reply. He continued looking through the files and organized them by date. The adoption agency got rid of most of their files when they knew that they were taken up to court. The police had managed to gather most of them.

As Shun looked through a box marked “1985” he noticed something strange. He picked it up to read clearly, and frowned. The adopted baby girl had the exact birthday as Maki. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Finally, a lead on Maki’s long lost sister. He knew it was a long shot, but he decided to at least try. Shun took note of the name, and decided he wouldn’t say anything to Maki about this yet.

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End file.
